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Vettel wins Malaysian lottery

There was steady but light rain for the Q3 session in Kuala Lumpur and nine of the top 10 rushed out to get a lap in on intermediates, while Felipe Massa took a more leisurely approach and stayed back, aiming to get some clear road. Conditions were treacherous with Lewis Hamilton going wide as he got ready to start his first flying lap. The first set of times came in a rush with pack leader Adrian Sutil initially fastest but he was beaten by Sergio Perez, while Kimi Raikkonen banged into second. They were then all beaten by Lewis Hamilton but his time was bested by Nico Rosberg and the two Mercedes were split by Fernando Alonso before Sebastian Vettel went quickest. That all happened in about 10 seconds and a short time later Massa came around and grabbed third. Second time around Webber jumped up to second, while Sutil, Raikkonen and Massa pitted for new rubber. The rain was now stopped and so the last laps looked as though they would be quicker. And so it was as the cars came back again, with Webber taking pole only to be bumped off it by Hamilton. The McLarens moved to sixth for Perez and then fourth for Button, but Raikkonen came through to grab fourth while Sutil took sixth. Rosberg’s last lap was enough to grab third but then Alonso suddenly leapt to the top of the time sheets only to be knocked off seconds later by Vettel. And to finish it off Massa came through and grabbed second from his team-mate.

It was all rather breathless. So the order was Vettel, Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Button, Sutil and Perez.

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16 Responses

Sounds like an exciting session, we in the UK without sky can only wait another 2.5 hours to see the highlights. I gather Susie Wolf has joined the Radio5live commentary team, but regret I didn’t wake up at the right time to hear it.

I assume you are being sarcastic? Love Joe’s detailed analysis of the structure/business side of F1, but the posts after sessions always just seem to be synopsis of what we all just watched, with very little discussion of the reasons/ramifications. I always hope for some interesting incites to balance out the guess work/inane questions of sky. Sorry, don’t mean to be a moaner Joe, its just the bar is so high with your other posts. Perhaps a subscription to GP+ is what I need?

Exactly. Take a look at the sample of last year’s Sao Paulo issue (if it’s still available) you’ll find very good analysis and commentary by not only Joe, but David Tremayne as well. GP+ is one of Joe’s core businesses, and why would he give it away free on the blog? You’ll find the photography by Peter Nygaard is very much on parr or better than you’ll find in other publications. He’s up among the best. The best thing is that the three of them bust their butts to get the issue out as soon as possible after the race. When I read a post race report in F-1 Racing, which I also take, the results are usually over a month old. And you get this at half the price of the other (at least in the U.S.) I sound like a shill for JS, but trust me, it’s worth the price.

Mark has done that before to Vettel. They were 2-3 at the 2011 British GP with Vettel leading and Horner saying hold station with a few laps left, but Webber ignored and challenged needlessly to the flag with Vettel holding on. Webber was praised for his racing courage to go against team orders, the “machine” and make Vettel earn it. Props Webbo…

The issue here is that Vettel did EXACTLY the same thing, but beat Mark and showed him who was boss. Mark knew Vettel was challenging, clearly by almost putting Vettel in the wall, so he should stop crying. Stop being a hypocrite.

Mark… If you are listening… You live by the sword you die by the sword. Or in Aussie, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Scuderia – no geese nor ganders in Australia. An Aussie saying would be “You’ve got kangaroos loose in the top paddock”.

Don’t recall Mark ever choosing to pass Vettel after being given the “hold station” order, even when give team orders were verboten like at 2011 British GP. Now that they are not outlawed, Vettel conveniently forgets the times he was the beneficiary of previously illegal team orders.

Disagree. The problem is not the racing, or the competition but the fact that as an employee of a team you should do as instructed. I am no big Webber fan but Vettel went against a team instruction. Therefore he should be punished, not by the FIA or the Stewards or even tried in the Media but by Horner and Wheatley as it was them he disobeyed. Although if I was Horner, I would try and stop Helmut Marko ever giving an interview at a race again as all he achieved today in his interview with Tom Clarkson was to fan the flames even more.

Forget Webber. This is a test as to Horner’s authority being defied or obeyed. Either he is in charge or someone else is. Or even worse, there is chaos. Horner needs to sit Vettel out a race and assert himself. The very most it could hurt the team is 25 Constructor’s pts if the test driver fails to score any. That is less than the team will suffer if Webber doesn’t help out for the rest of the season. It works many ways. Mark could let Alonso, Nico, Lewis or Kimi easily sail through when team strategy calls for him to hold them up so Seb can build a gap for few laps before he pits. Or he could just punt Seb off the track in a race. Horner must assert his authority and mend team morale.

Besides RB seems to have a car that will win the Constructor’s title easily again. Who knows, perhaps Buemi will impress when he is given a real car?

Either way, without a fully cooperating Webber, the team will suffer more than just 25pts loss throughout the very large remainder of the season.

Will Horner be bullied by Marko and Vettel? Will he allow himself to be defied openly? Who is in charge at Red Bull? We shall soon see.